Menu

It is with great pleasure that I read about the passing of the Civil Union Bill. Finally Malta is a step closer to being a more liberal and awesome country. A big congratulations goes to the Labour Party for sticking and delivering this promise.

I know I am not known to be vocal supporter about certain decisions the current Government takes but this is definitely one that should be saluted. This is a celebration of love and the LGBT community deserves this win.

I must admit that I’m quite disappointed to see the PN taking this kind of stance towards the bill. A free vote would have shown the PN as being the fresh, new party they were saying they wanted to be. Abstaining is not only a bad PR move considering circumstances but also brings back bad memories of the divorce issue. With a free vote the party would have shown its a mixed one of liberals and more conservative members, something the rest of the country understands. Bringing in the issue on adoption as an excuse frankly doesn’t hold water as gay adoption is already possible through single parent adoption. The PN would have really shown itself as being a renewed party and this was a missed chance.

So once again congratulations to the Government of Malta for passing this bill.

Prime Minister Joseph Muscat was quite right when he tweeted the following:

Recently, it seems that everywhere I look I’m bombarded by adverts for a ‘Roundtable meeting with the Government of Malta‘ organized by The Economist. It is being held in a week’s time at the Hilton, and looks like it will tackle a few interesting topics and it’s great to see such engagement from the present Government.

Going through the list of speakers however I was struck by one glaring thing. Out of the 56 confirmed speakers, only 1 is a woman. Worse yet, there is no female Maltese speaker at this event as the only female speaker is Anna Diamantopoulou, a former European Commissioner from Greece.

Is this just an unfortunate coincidence or is it possible that even though we’re in the 21st century, locally we still have this idea that women and business shouldn’t mix?

What I am really worried about is the kind of message this sends. A Roundtable meeting with the Government of Malta discussing Invigorating Investment and Growth and the female representation is just a token and almost nonexistent. Just for a visual representation, this is how the whole speaker list looks like.

Many might think I’m making an issue when there shouldn’t be one, but think about it – what does it say about us as a country, when a high profile event such as this one is completely devoid of a local female speaker?

The concept of token females on the boards of government entities disturbs me and I was never a fan of positive discrimination. Back in 2012, when Vivienne Reading set aggressive targets for women on boards of public companies I cringed. To me, this was somehow saying that women are not recognized as competent decision makers and cannot make on their own merits and legislation is needed to make this happen.

Seeing the above example I feel like I was wrong in my line of thought. There needs to be a system which ensures that capable women are given a fair chance to attain decision making positions because many of us are still predisposed to a more patriarchal system and appointing women to boards still feels like it’s not the natural thing to do or that it should be a mere token representation.

On a more positive note, the European Commission today released a press release about the Gender Pay Gap in the EU. Malta holds the second place of lowest pay gap, just after Slovenia at 6.1%. Even though the number should be 0% this is something we should be proud of as a country.

The pride march is all about equality, so why not come and show your support; numbers seem to be the only way to tap into the decision makers’ line of sight. Even though something is already being done, with the passing of the Hate Crime Bill last week in Parliament, there is still a lot of ground Malta needs to catch up on.

If you cannot make it on Saturday you can still show your support by downloading the amazing posters from the MGRM website and displaying them on your Facebook. Designs and illustrations have all been created by the fabulous and very talented Ms Noko; http://nadinenoko.tumblr.com/

So will you be showing your support to the local LGBT community?

And if you feel like clicking away, have a look at these amazing pictures taken at the various gay pride activities all around the world this week.